Trolley-contact.



No. 735,419. I .PATENTED All-GA, 190s H. w. SOUDBR. TROLLEY CONTACT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 25, 1902.

in) MODEL.

#Wi My WJ Q Z BY @TORNEY INVENTOR HOWELL W. SOUDER, OF TAMAQUA,

HALF TO W. D. ZEHNER, OF

Patented August 4, 1903.

FFICE.

PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- LANSFORD, PENNSYLVANIA.

TROLLEY-CONTACT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 735,419 dated August '4, 1903. Application filed September 25, 1902 Serial No. 124,797. (No model.)

citizen of the United States of America, and

a resident of Tamaqua, Schuylkill county,

invention applied thereto.

State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Trolley- Oontacts, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates in general to electric contact-making devices,and more specifically consists of an improved apparatus for application to electric railroads, whereby a passing trolley-wheeler similar device may complete an electric signaling circuit. j In devices of this character there-haveheretofore been more or less uncertainty of action, leakage of current, and disturbances due to self-induc' tion in. the excited circuit. My invention seeks to avoid these disadvantages and to produce a sure and clean-cut action of the electric current in the connected circuit.

The best form of apparatus at present known to me embodying my invention is illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings, in which Figure l is a perspective View of a portion; of the trolley-pole and trolley-wire with my Fig. 2 is an end. view. Fig. .3 is a view from below, ,the trolley-pole being removed.

Throughout the drawings like referencefigures indicate like parts. i

1 represents a section of the trolley-Wire on which runs the trolley-wheel 2, carried by trolley-pole 3. A plate 4, of wood or other non-conducting material, preferably given a convenient form to shed rain, is supported in any desired manner, as by the ear 5, attached to the trolley-wire,or by guy-wires 14. and 15 or by both means. Plate 4 carries two conducting-plates 6 and 7 which have binding-screws 8 and 9 or other means for connecting wires 10 and 11 thereto. Set in the plates 6 and 7 or formed integral therewith are the series of spring-teeth l2 and 13.

The operation of the above-described apparatus is as follows: One of the wires, as 10, is connected to the signal-circuit. The other, 11, is connected to the feed-wire. When the trolley-wheel 2 passes, it bridges the gap between fingers 12 and13 and completes the circuit. If desired, the feed-wire'connection may be dispensed with and the trolley-wire l located as shownin dotted lines in Fig. 2. The current from the trolley-Wire will then be supplied to the wire 10 through wheel 2, fingers 12, and plate 6.

Among the advantages of my invention are comprised the following: Certainty of action, in that the spring-fingers do not require any nicety of adjustment, and if some of them are out of action by reason of their having been bent or broken others will suffice to convey the current; avoidance of leakage of current, in that it is impossible for rust, scale, or slime to partly bridge the gap in the permanent circuit, and avoidance of sparking and self-induction or back kicks. These latter result in ordinary cases from sudden making or breaking of the circuit in a manner that throws in or out the whole current. In my apparatus the connection is through a number of fine wires which form sections in multiple or branch connection with the maincircuit wire. As the trolley-wheel strikes the first finger "a portion of the current goes through. As anotherand another finger comes into play theconductivity of the contact increases up to the maximum. As thetrolleywheel leavesthecombs l2 and 13 the reverse action takes place. There is therefore a gradual cuttingin andcutting out of the I cur're'ntlwhich reduces sparking and induct ive action.

It is evident of course that various changes could be made in the details of the construction illustrated. Other forms of combs, insulatingplates, supporting and connecting means, 850., might be employed; but the modifications so produced-I should consider me chanical equivalents still with-in thescope of my invention.

Having therefore described my invention, what I claim as new,and desire toprotect by Letters Patent, is

1. In a contact-making devicefor trolley roads the combination ofaplate of conducting material, the trolley-wire and means for supporting the plate adjacent to the trolleywire, a series of spring-fingers all electrically connected to said plate at one end, arranged parallel one to another in the same plane,

but separated each from the other, electrical connections to the plate, and a trolley-wheel adapted to strike and deflect said springfingers.

2. As an element in a contact-making device for trolley-roads a metallic plate having aseries ofspring-wire fingersprojectingtherefrom each parallel to the other and all lying in the same plane, but separated each from the other and by suitable spaces such that a passing trolley-wheel will bear upon a nu m ber of said teeth simultaneously.

3. In an apparatus for producing electric contact between elements having a relative motion one to the other, the combination of an electric circuit, a contact member in the form of two oppositely-arranged combs each having flexible conducting-teeth which point inward, all of the teeth of one comb being connected in multiple to one terminal of the circuit, and all ofthe teeth of the other comb being connected in multiple to the other terminal of the circuit, a second contact member of conducting material and means for passestate ing said second member between the two oppositely-arranged combs.

4. The combination of the trolley-wire, two metallic plates provided with in wardly-extending projections arranged on opposite sides of the trolley-wire, and a bridge-piece of insulating material, together with means for maintaining the whole structure in position on the trolley-wire supporting the two metallic plates.

5. The combination of a plate of insulating material provided with means for mounting iton and over a trolley-wire, and two depending conducting-plates on either side of said insulating-plate each provided with a series of inwardly-extending projections of conducting material.

Signed atLansford, Pennsylvania, this 15th day of September, 1902.

HOWELL W. SOUDER.

Witnesses:

E. E. WERNER, J. F. WERNER. 

